Mark Torpey is the sports editor of The Enterprise and The Patriot Ledger, and this is our all-sports blog. Use it as a jumping off point for our sport-specific blogs on Boston pro teams, or stay right here and talk about high school and college
...

Mark Torpey is the sports editor of The Enterprise and The Patriot Ledger, and this is our all-sports blog. Use it as a jumping off point for our sport-specific blogs on Boston pro teams, or stay right here and talk about high school and college sports and other topics.

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July 20, 2013
12:01 a.m.

As soon as I got in the vicinity of Worcester last night – I was driving back from a meeting in New York – I put on 93.7 hoping to hear the Red Sox – Yankees game. The reception was clear and I thought I was hearing Dave O’Brien, but the names that he was announcing – “Almonte, Gonzalez, and Cruz” – were completely foreign to me. Could these guys be on the New York Yankees?

To be honest, when I heard the name Almonte, I was thinking about “Danny Almonte” the kid who faked his birthdate so he could pitch for the Bronx in the Little League World Series and not “Zoilo Almonte” the guy who turned an ankle during last night game against the Sox and went on the disabled list today.

Also, stunning to me (and I picked up the game in the bottom of the sixth right after Pettitte – yes, Andy – was pulled by Joe Girardi for a guy named Shawn Kelly) was when Jose Iglesias went the other way off of Boone Logan (at least I’m used to him) for a single to score Jonny Gomes with the fourth Red Sox run, the ball fell in front of Brett Lillibridge in rightfield. The Brett Lillibridge I know came to the Red Sox in the Kevin Youkilis trade last summer and somehow made his way back to the majors and onto the vaunted New York Yankees roster. The Yankees have become so aged and so decimated by injury that they are regularly starting cast-offs for the 93-loss 2012 Red Sox roster (Youkilis, Lillibridge) and 2013 spring training cut Lyle Overbay.

I cannot remember a Yankees team in any year since Derek Jeter became a regular that featured such a weak line-up. When Brett Gardner foolishly smashed his helmet to the ground in protest of a called third strike, it was almost like he was intentionally trying to avoid association with the band of irregulars that Girardi was forced to field.

Granted, while the Yankees appear weak, they are still a danger to the Red Sox. The Bombers (that almost seems funny now that the line-up lacks Teixeira, ARod, and Granderson) have Hiroki Kuroda going against the Sox today and still have C.C. Sabathia tomorrow night. Sabathia, like Pettitte, isn’t having his most consistent season ever, but he’s still more than capable of pitching a lights-out game against the Sox (or anyone else for that matter).

It would be a great way for the Red Sox to start the second half by taking all three from the Yankees. For one reason it would give the Red Sox another couple of wins as they begin to pull away from New York, but it would also provide a cushion against the Yankees in case the reinforcements arrive and the club goes on a run. There can be no way that Brian Cashman sits back and continues to watch the foundation of the ballclub his built erode beneath him. Even so, this year’s Yankees team is beginning to feel like a different Boston club – the Celtics. And like Danny Ainge – Cashman has to balance when to throw in the towel on a season against going all-out and selling off more of his future in the way of moving prospects for players with big salaries.

Once I realized that Dave O’Brien was talking about the New York Yankees, it was easy for me to enjoy the rest of the game with a smile on my face. The Yankees are still dangerous, but they’re also close to aging into irrelevance.